Sword Art Online Guardians: Aincrad
by GOTPShadow
Summary: Follow Shadow, Wraith, Azure, Crimson, Tariq and their friends in this original story based in the Sword Art Online universe. This story will cover the Aincrad arc but will then follow a timeline more similar to the games than the anime or light novels. Rated M just in case.
1. The World of Swords

Chapter 1.

The World of Swords.

"Bye." The door was closed as a boy of about 15 turned around and walked up the stairs of his house. He was of about average height with green eyes and medium length scruffy grey hair that was swept to his left. He was wearing a baggy grey shirt and a pair of jeans. He opened a door at the top of the stairs to reveal a fairly small room with grey walls and a dark wooden floor. At the end of the room opposite the door was a black desk with 3 monitors on it. Beneath this desk were two built in shelves. The top shelf had a black gaming console on it along with a bunch of games while the bottom had a black gaming PC with purple neons coming out of it. Near the monitors was a keyboard of a similar design and a black mouse on a black and purple mouse pad. On the left monitor was a list of games that were installed. The middle had a live stream with the countdown for the new VRMMORPG Sword Art Online that was opening its servers that day. On the last monitor was a desktop screen with a background of a group of anime characters. Next to the desk was a dark wooden bed with a light blue sheet, mattress and pillow. On top of the pillow was a grey helmet with the letters 'NVG' in the middle with the words 'NERVE GEAR' beneath it. Above the bed was a window with grey curtains that were drawn to. Across the room, next to the door, was a dark wooden wardrobe. The boy closed the door behind him as he walked over to his desk starting up a game from the list. His lights were already off as he grabbed a wire from the helmet and plugged it into his computer. He led down on his bed as he put the helmet on and then looked at the top right corner of the visor at a clock that read 12:59. He waited until the clock changed to 13:00 before closing his eyes and saying the words "Link Start!".

A series of coloured cylinders flew towards him in an empty white space until all he could see was white. Two blue circles filled his view and then flew off to the top right as another four blue circles did the same taking up all remaining space on the far right beneath the two at the top. The circles then changed to green as the 1st, 3rd and 5th went to right with the 2nd, 4th and 6th going to the left. A box then appeared asking for the username and password which were quickly typed in. Another screen then appeared asking if he wanted to use his avatar Shadow(M) from the beta. As yes was pressed it came up with a grey space with the words 'Welcome to Sword Art Online' in black. His view was then obscured again this time with electric blue shards flying towards him. He opened his eyes to find himself inside of a old looking city. He now had medium length black hair with dark purple eyes. He was wearing the basic armour with a light grey shirt underneath it. On his left side he had a sword that was currently sheathed. He looked around as flashes of blue came from all around caused by players logging in. He ran forward towards where the town gate was through the crowd of players looking at the equipment.

Once he reached the gate he stood against the wall outside and then waited. He lifted up his right hand putting his index finger and thumb together then pulling his hand downwards. This made a ringing sound as five white circles all with an image in them came down from where he had put his fingers. The first circle then turned orange as a inventory window opened up. He quickly checked through this window to see nothing there but his starting equipment before then pressing the third option on the subject menu to check his skills. "Just as I expected." He muttered to himself before he heard the voice of another player near him.

"Hi Shadow." Said the player as he walked up to the jet haired boy leant against the wall. Shadow turned to look at this player. He was about the same height as Shadow and had slightly shorter but scruffier white hair. He had light purple eyes and had a light blue shirt beneath his default armour. On his back was the same basic starting sword as Shadow.

"Good to see you again Wraith." Shadow replied, addressing the white haired player next to him. "It's been a while hasn't it."

"Yeah it has. We haven't been able to play for about 2 months now."

"Has it really only been 2 months since we were last here?" Shadow asked looking at his menu. "It seems like forever ago since the servers closed."

"But now they're open again for good." Wraith replied looking around him. "Man does it feel good to be back here."

"I know the feeling. I haven't even touched Full Dive after the Beta ended. There just wasn't any point in using the Nerve Gear until this finally launched."

"So…" Wraith said looking back to Shadow. "Were the rumours true?"

"Unfortunately no. As expected we got completely reset and we've got nothing else given to us for participating in the Beta or at least not from what I can see so far." Shadow replied selecting the third circle on his menu to open up the communications window and then pressing the first option in the sub menu before selecting Wraith from the list of nearby people and then sending him a friend request. "Anyway we should probably get going to the first town before all the grinding spots are taken."

"Yeah we probably should leave now." Wraith responded as a small white box opened in front of him with a friend request from Shadow. He pressed the blue circle to accept the request before then opening his menu and accessing the party sub menu to create a party that he added Shadow into. Shadow quickly accepted this and then the two players set off towards the next town. As they walked off Shadow noticed two other players exiting the town's gate whilst talking to each other. The first was a male player who appeared to be about 16. He had short blue hair and bright red eyes with a blue shirt under his starting gear and the basic sword on his back. Walking with him was a female player of about the same age. She had long red hair with black eyes and had a red shirt beneath her starting outfit along with the basic sword at her side. The red haired player looked over to Shadow and Wraith and then called out to them.

"Hey you two!" She shouted grabbing the leaving party's attention. "You want to party up with us!"

"What do you think Shadow?" Wraith asked turning to his friend. "Should we join those guys?"

"I don't see why not." He said to Wraith. "After all it may be better to have a few extra players to grind with us for a bit." They walked on over to the two players as the girl started speaking.

"Thanks for deciding to party up with us guys." She said. "We were hoping to find some people who might know what they were doing so we headed out and found you two"

"Well you definitely found the right people for that." Wraith said. " I'm Wraith and he's Shadow. We were both part of the Beta Test and two of the highest leveled players by the end of it." He said pointing to Shadow as he spoke. "And you two are?"

"I'm Crimson and this is Azure" the redhead said gesturing to the Blue haired teen next to her."We've never been in VRMMORPG before."

"It's pretty amazing isn't it." Shadow said. "The feel of moving your avatar as if it's your real body."

"That it is." Crimson replied as the group started walking away from the town. "I can only imagine how great it would feel to actually fight like this."

"We could try to explain it to you guys but you'll only truly understand once you get into battle." Wraith said opening his menu sending party invites to both Crimson and Azure. The two both accepted the invite adding their names underneath Wraith and Shadow's in the top left of their peripheral vision. As they continued walking a group of boars spawned in front of them.

"Right then." Shadow said unsheathing his sword from his side. "Time for us to start teaching you two how to play." He said putting his sword out and charging it up with a blue glow as he performed a Sword Skill called Rage Spike slicing into and through the closest boar.

"Was he always like this back in the Beta?" Crimson asked Wraith as they all unsheathed their swords and ran towards the group of boars that Shadow was currently killing.

"Yeah. Whenever we got to a boss room Shadow was always the first through the door and straight to fighting the boss."

"Wouldn't that of got him killed a lot?" She asked slashing at the closest boar.

"Not really. Before he got too low the rest of us were already helping him so in boss fights he didn't really die much."

"The rest of us?"

"Yeah we had a few other friends in the beta but after the beta ended me and Shadow were the only ones to agree to meet when the full game launched. I remember a player from the Beta who helped us as an Info Broker called Argo but apart from that I don't remember the rest of them much."

"Okay."

"Anyway." Wraith said as he finished of the boars around him. "Time to teach you guys how to use Sword Skills. Shadow!" He shouted to his black haired friend currently killing his final few boars. "Leave two of them for these two to learn their Sword Skills on!"

"Okay man." Shadow replied finishing off one last boar leaving two left for Crimson and Azure.

"Right so to perform a Sword Skill you have to make the starting movement of the skill and then let the automated system take you through the rest of the move."

"For example." Shadow said walking over to the group and interrupting Wraith. "To perform the Sword Skill Rage Spike you have to lift your sword up to your head and then go to jab forward then the system should carry you through from there. Like this." Shadow lifted his sword up to about level with his head then let it glow a bright blue before then jabbing forward as the system then carried him through as his blade cut through the air. "Now you two try to use it on those boars left over there." Shadow said pointing back over to the boars that he left for them. Azure was the first to step forward towards the boars. He lifted his arm up to be level with his head and let his blade glow before dashing forward with a brilliant blue flash slicing through the boar as it exploded into light blue shards.

"I could get used to this." Azure said sheathing his sword on his back as he walked back to the others.

"Okay Crimson now your turn." Wraith said as Crimson ran over to the final boar as she lifted her arm up letting her blade glow before dashing forward through the boar exploding like the other boars before it into tiny blue shards.

The afternoon went by as the group continued to level from the boars and before long the sun started to set. As it approached around about 5:15PM the group ended their grinding and sat down together on the grass nearby.

"So you guys enjoying this game then?" Shadow asked Crimson and Azure opening up his menu to check his items from the last 4 hours worth of grinding.

"Yeah it's definitely a great sensation to fight with your body as opposed to a controller." Crimson said turning to look at Shadow.

"That it definitely is." Said Azure turning away from the group and looking around at the rivers and hilly grasslands around them. "It's hard to believe that all of this is just data. I mean it seems so real yet it's all just a bunch of code."

"I know. You can really get lost in this game sometimes and completely forget about reality." Wraith said staring off into the distance like Azure.

"I remember a time from the beta where I stayed logged in for an entire weekend because I had got so immersed into this world." Said Shadow, closing his menu and standing up. "I only ended up logging out after Wraith here reminded me by telling me he was going to go have dinner with his family."

"Talking of which I should probably log out now." Azure said, starting to stand up as he looked at the top right of his peripheral vision to see the time reading 5:24. "It's almost half 5 and I have to go get myself some food so I don't starve in here."

"Yeah. It's a shame eating here only seems to satisfy your hunger whereas in reality you still need to actually eat." Shadow said walking forwards a bit and looking towards the stone wall he could see in the distance marking the edge of the starting town 'The Town of Beginnings'.

"Anyway if Azure's logging out I should probably log out too." Crimson said standing up and opening up her menu. "Thanks for helping us out guys."

"No problem." Said Wraith as he started to get up. "Just message us if you ever need any help."

"You got it." Azure said as both him and Crimson opened up their menus and went to log out.

"Um guys?" Crimson asked turning back to Shadow and Wraith who were just starting to turn away. "Where's the Logout button?"

"It should be at the bottom of your menu in the options tab." Wraith said opening up his menu and pressing the gear icon at the bottom of the list to open up the side menu. "It's right here…" Wraith's voice trailed off as he looked at the box for the logout button.

"What's wrong Wraith?" Shadow asked opening his menu and going down to the logout button to see why Wraith had just frozen. "Shit."

Where the logout button should have been was a blank box in between the help and the settings tab. Shadow tried to press the button but it had no effect whatsoever. Before anyone could say anything the clock in the top right of their view hit 17:30 and was then met by a loud ringing of a bell. Each of the four members of the group was then enveloped in a bright blue light before being blinded as a strange tingling feeling hit them all.


	2. The Hollow Avatar

Chapter 2:

The Hollow Avatar

The next thing the group saw was a large stone plaza with a clock tower in the centre. Around the edge of the plaza were multiple stone pillars with large arches on top of them that circled around the central tower about half a football pitch away. The pillars all had a large brick wall behind them that went up to behind the arches to help support them. At 4 different sections around the plaza there were large gaps in the pillars and walls to act as pathways all leading to different locations. The exit that was closest to the group was on the West side of the plaza and led off to the main markets. The path on the East side led towards a large park with various food stands in and around it. Behind the group and to the South was the main exit out of town that had a large fountain down the path. The final path was to the North and held a large black building not too far away from the plaza. As the group looked around they all started to recognize their surroundings.

"Isn't this the starting town?" Asked Crimson turning to the others.

"Yeah it is." Answered Wraith. "We've been forcefully teleported back to the Grand Plaza."

"And by the looks of it so has everyone currently logged in." Shadow said as multiple flashes of blue kept appearing around them each flash bringing a new person. Before long the Plaza was filled up with what seemed like almost 100,000 other players all with different colours and styles of hair but all in leather starting armour.

"Why'd you reckon everyone got teleported here?" Asked Azure looking around at the players.

" I think we're about to find out." Replied Shadow pointing up to the sky. Above the Plaza was a flashing red hexagonal shape with the words 'WARNING' and 'SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT' in a darker red inside of it. After a few seconds more hexagons began to appear out of the original and spread across the sky, covering the entire plaza in a red dome. As soon as the final hexagons hit the floor, and dark red liquid started to seep through the hexagons around the original until they started to form together. Blue electricity sparked the form of liquid and from it came a large red cloaked figure. Shadow and Wraith quite quickly recognised the cloak from the beta. In the beta the crimson cloak had been used by the GM's but there was one crucial difference. In the beta test male GM's would look like old wizards and female GM's would look like young witches but the figure that stood before them had no face or legs. Almost as if the cloak was hollow. The figure raised its arms revealing white gloves at the end of its arms where it's hands would be as all players turned towards it. Once the GM's hands stopped moving a calm, deep voice came from the avatar.

"Welcome, dear players, to my world."

The players down bellow all turned to each other at this confused by what the GM ment. Their world. No GM would refer to the game as theirs. Shadow and Wraith turned to each other in disbelief. The robed figure put it's arms down as it began to speak again.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment onwards I am the only person with control over this world."

Multiple players in the crowd gasped from hearing that name. Akihiko Kayaba was the young genius who managed to make the game studio Argus into one of the most well known developers in the industry. Not only was Kayaba the executive producer of Sword Art Online but he was also the creator of the NerveGear itself. He was an inspiration to many gamers and Shadow was no exception to this. He had read countless articles on the man for both his work in VR technology but also with creating SAO. But one thing puzzled Shadow about this. Kayaba had always tried to avoid media attention and never appeared as a GM during the SAO beta. So why would he appear now.

"You'll of likely noticed by now that the logout button is missing from the main menu." Kayaba said to the crowd beneath him. "This is not a bug. I repeat this is not bug-it is a feature of Sword Art Online."

"A feature?" Crimson muttered. Her voice beginning to cracking.

"From this point onward you will be unable to freely log out of the game until the final floor of this castle is cleared." Kayaba continued. His voice still as calm as it was when he started speaking. "Furthermore the NerveGear can not be forcibly removed or shut down from external means. If forceful means of exit are attempted…"

He paused. A heavy silence filled the plaza. One Hundred Thousand breaths held in anticipation of his next word. Hoping for some reassurance. For a way out. The next words that Kayaba said were said with a slow, and painful finality.

"...The high-powered microwaves emitted by the NerveGear will scramble your brains and shut down all of your vital processes."

The players all over the plaza started to look at each other in shock.

"S-scramble our b-brains…" Azure stuttered looking to the three players next to him. "So we'd b-be.."

"Killed." Shadow said cutting of Azure mid sentence. "We would die."

Cries and whimpers could now be heard from all over the plaza. Shadow spotted a group of three people, Two boys and a girl, not to far from them start to break as he overheard their conversation.

"We're gonna die here aren't we…" One of the boys with pink hair said as he fell to the ground. It's already over."

"He has to be kidding right Hunter?" The girl with blue hair asked turning towards a boy with bright purple hair who couldn't move.

Suddenly a short girl with long white hair ran through the group of three Shadow was looking at and headed towards one of the exits of the plaza trying to escape, but it was no use. The red dome kept them trapped.

"He has to be kidding right Shadow?" Wraith asked turning Shadow's attention back to the three players next to him.

"Unfortunately I don't think so." Shadow replied trying his best to stay calm. "The NerveGear has countless transmitters that emit faint electromagnetic waves that send false sensations directly to our brain cells. It may be cutting edge technology but it still works on the same principles as everyday microwave. With a high enough power output the NerveGear could vibrate all of the moisture in our brain cells that could cause enough frictional heat to fry our brains from the inside out."

"But what if you pull the plug out?" Asked Azure. "Surely it wouldn't have enough power for that."

"Actually it would." Shadow replied. "The NerveGear has some massive batteries inside of it to keep it going for hours when your not connected. Using all of that power could easily kill.." Shadow was suddenly cut of as Kayaba started talking again.

"To be more specific, this sequence will commence upon any if the following circumstances: Ten minutes of no external power; two hours of network disconnection; removal, dismantling or destruction of the NerveGear. The authorities and media in the outside world have already announced the details of these conditions to the general public. At present the friends and families of several players have already ignored these warnings and attempted to remove their Nerve Gears the results being…"

The echoing voice paused for a moment as Kayaba took a breath.

"That sadly four hundred and fifty two players have already been permanently removed from both Aincrad and the real world."

From the crowd came a shrill scream as most other players were shocked and unable to move with many players falling over or struggling to support their own weight. Shadow stood in disbelief, his legs trembling.

 _Four hundred and fifty two players._

The words kept repeating themselves in Shadow's ear. How could so many people of been killed within five and a half hours.

"There is however no need to worry about your physical bodies in the real world." Kayaba confidently continued. "The current state you are all in and today's fatalities have been covered far and wide on TV, Radio and the Internet. The chance now that someone will remove your NerveGear is already much diminished. The two-hour offline leeway period should provide enough time for your bodies to be transported to hospitals and other long-term care facilities with proper security, eliminating concerns over your physical well-being. You may rest assured...and focus on conquering the game."

"Wha-!" Someone shouted from behind the group. "You expect us to just enjoy the game whilst we're trapped in here."

"This isn't even a game anymore!" Shadow shouted at Kayaba.

As if he heard Shadow, Kayaba continued talking.

"However, please proceed with caution. As of this moment, Sword Art Online is no longer a game to you. It is another reality. The standard means of player resurrection will no longer function as they did previously. When your health points dwindle to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted…"

At this the players braced themselves for what was to come.

"...And simultaneously the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Shadow looked up to the top right corner of his vision to look at the thin bar, glowing green. The numbers 342/342 above it.

His health points. His remaining life.

If that number hit zero he would actually die. The NerveGear would fry his brain and instantly kill him.

This was no longer a normal game for anyone. This was now a game of life and death.

Shadow and Wraith thought back to the beta test. During those two months they had both died multiple times. They remembered respawning in the Black Iron Palace to the North of the plaza. Free to fight again. That's how games worked. You die and die. Learning lessons each time. But now no one could do that. As soon as they die once in the virtual world they would also die in the real world.

"There is only one condition of which you can be freed from this game." Kayaba announced. "Simply clear all one hundred floors of Castle Aincrad and all serving players will be able to safely log out of the game."

There was a moment of sheer silence until a player with black spiky hair, dark skin and a purple undershirt on beneath his armour spoke out.

"How are we meant to do that. The Beta Testers had two months and didn't even finish the first ten floors. How are we meant to clear all hundred floors?"

Judging by the sudden uproar from the players it seemed like every other player was think exactly that. How were they to clear the game. Kayaba ignored this uproar and began to speak again.

"I have just gifted you all an item in your inventories. I would like you all to take a look at it."

Everyone opened their menu and took out the item. It was a small hand mirror with a fairly basic design. Before anyone could understand why they all had this mirror, multiple blue lights began engulfing every player in the plaza.

When the light disappeared to see his real face staring back at him. Gone was his jet black hair and purple eyes. Instead his hair was now a smokey grey and in a scruffy mess with eyes now being green. Shadow turned around to see three different people in front of him. Standing where his white haired friend used to be was now a boy of about 15 with sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. Next to him was a boy of about 16 or 17 with jet black hair and dark eyes. His height had slightly changed as he was now a bit shorter. Behind both of them was a girl of about 16 with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. It took the group a minute to realise what had happened.

"Is that you Shadow?" Asked the Blonde haired girl looking at the smokey haired boy. "And is that you too Wraith?"

"Yeah it's us." Shadow responded looking to Azure and Crimson. "I'm guessing this much be what we all look like in real life."

"Seems that way." Azure said as the mirrors shattered in everyone's hands into a thousand tiny blue shards.

"How did they make us look like we do in real life?" Crimson asked.

"Well the NerveGear does a high density scan for you to based your avatar off of for your face." explained Shadow "But I don't understand how they got our height."

"When you first buy the NerveGear you have to do a scan all over your body." Azure replied. "They probably got our measurements from that."

"That marks the end of the tutorial for Sword Art Online." Kayaba said suddenly gaining everyone's attention. "From now on you are free to play the game and try and beat Castle Aincrad. Good Luck." The avatar began to break down until it suddenly disappeared and the red dome around the plaza vanished. The players were all frozen taking in everything that happened until they began to break down. Shadow and Wraith quickly grabbed Azure and Crimson and ran out of the plaza towards the edge of town.

"Right if were trapped in here we need to start leveling up to take on the first boss." Shadow said as they stopped near the exit of the town opening his map and looking at it.

"If we head out now we can get to the next town before nightfall." Wraith explained to Azure and Crimson. We can spend the night there and get ourselves some better equipment too. Then we can keep making our way through the floor."

"Are you two ready to go?" Shadow asked looking up at Azure and Crimson. The two looked at each other and nodded before looking back at Shadow and Wraith.

"We're ready"

"Good" Said Shadow turning towards the outside. "Let's get going then."

The group of four all charged out of the gate along the path to the next town. As they ran a pack of Dire Wolves spawned in front of them on the path. Within a second all for players drew their blades and charged towards the wolves with their Sword Skills at the ready. As the pack of wolves jumped at them the four blades all glowed a brilliant blue as they all charged through a wolf each with Rage Spike. They were determined to beat the game. They were determined to live...


	3. The Boss Raid Meeting

Chapter 3: The Boss Raid Meeting

It had been almost a month since the launch of SAO. Since then over One Thousand of the Hundred Thousand players that got trapped in the death game had perished. During that time the first floor still hadn't been cleared as players were mostly working in small groups and never had enough members to take on the dungeon…

"Hrraagghh!"

The last Hornet shattered into blue shards as Shadow's Annealed Blade struck through it. "Well that's the last of them." He said sheathing his blade at his side as he turned around to Wraith. "Let's head back to town so we can turn this quest in."

"Good shout." Wraith replied stowing his Dagger away in its sheath. "So how do you recon Azure and Crimson have been doing since we last saw them?"

"I don't know. But they're still showing up on our friends list so at least we know they're still alive."

"Yeah it's good that they're still here. I still wish we could of stayed with them a bit longer though."

The two players started walking back towards Tolbana. It was the last town on the first floor and the current base of all players trying to clear the game. Shadow and Wraith had been staying in Tolbana ever since they arrived last week. They had been exploring a dungeon with Azure and Crimson when they got split up and hadn't been able to contact them since. After they got out they came across Tolbana and decided to stay there hoping that their friends would show up eventually. They had tried going back into the dungeon to find them but every time they tried they had got blocked by a Level 10 boss which they couldn't take down as just the two of them. Since then they had been leveling to try and take it out and find their friends.

They continued walking back to the town gates as the sky above them started to turn darker and darker as it became night. "Hopefully we'll be able to take that boss on tomorrow Wraith." Shadow said turning to his friend trying to smile.

"I hope so." Wraith responded looking at Shadow. "It's been so long since we last saw them."

"I know man."

They arrived inside the town and turned into the building on their left. It was a small and cheap Inn as evident by the cracks in the walls and the moss growing on it. Shadow wasn't sure if it was just how used he was to the virtual world around him now but all of the details in the building just made it seem so realistic. It was getting harder and harder to remember that this was all just a virtual world. The two headed upstairs into their rooms to sleep for the night. Tomorrow would be the 1st of December. That would mark the 24th day of being stuck in this world. They had already lost over 1% of the playerbase and had made no progress towards clearing the game. But tomorrow would be a new day. A new month even. And hopefully a new hope for the players of this death game…

Shadow woke up the next morning and looked around the small Inn room. He was lying in a simple single bed with a oak wood framing. Atop the bed was a single white pillow and a thin white sheet covering him. To his left was a small cross framed window which was only open enough to let air in while the curtains were just about open as to let a crack of light come into and light up the room. The walls around him were covered in a boring brown wallpaper which matched the small wooden door to his right. Shadow opened up his menu and looked up to the clock in the top left of his vision. 8:30. He equipped his gear before leaving the inn room.

Outside of his room was a narrow corridor with rooms presumably all identical to his on either side. The wallpaper from inside the room continued out here to both sides of the corridor. At one end was a window that looked down upon one of the towns gates. At the other was a wooden staircase that led downstairs. Shadow walked towards and down the staircase that led him into a dark and dingy bar. As usual there weren't many players in here so it was pretty easy for Shadow to identify Wraith who was sat at a table near the door. Sat with him where two other players. The first was of average height and had shoulder length blue hair. Equipped he had a set of Bronze armour on top of a blue jacket. Sat next to him was a smaller player with short brown hair. He was wearing a red scale armour piece on top of a Grey top. The blue haired player turned around to reveal his light blue eyes. When he saw Shadow he smiled.

"Long time no see Shadow." The player said waving at Shadow. For a few seconds Shadow was surprised that this player knew his name until it suddenly clicked. He knew this player from the Beta test. He had been part of the group that Shadow and Wraith were apart of back in the Beta but he couldn't remember who it was. "Don't worry if you can't remember my old name Shadow." The player said as Shadow walked over to the table. "I go by Diavel now."

"How have you been then Diavel." Shadow asked sitting down. "I haven't seen you since the beta."

"I've been fine thank you Shadow. From what Wraith here has told me your not much different from how you were in the beta. Still charging into battle without a second thought."

"Yeah I guess I haven't have I." Shadow replied with a nervous laugh, scratching his head as spoke.

"So Diavel." Wraith asked. "Who's your new friend?"

"Ah yes. Shadow, Wraith I'd like you to meet Paladine." He replied gesturing to the short, brown haired player next to him. "I met him back in the Town of Beginnings and we've been working together ever since."

"It's nice to meet you Paladine." Shadow said extending his hand to the Brown haired player. He looked up to reveal his bright blue eyes. Judging from his face he didn't appear much older than about 16. He had dark blue eyes and seemed somewhat happy for being stuck in a death game.

"Nice to meet you too Shadow." Paladine said holding out his hand to shake Shadow's.

"So." Diavel turned to Shadow and Wraith. "The group that me and Paladine here are part of have managed to find the boss room and we're holding a meeting later today to form a party for the boss raid. Assuming that you two are still as skilled as you were back in the Beta we could really do with you help us out."

"Of course we'll help Diavel." Shadow responded. "We all want to get out of this death game as quickly as possible. If we can help with that then we happily do whatever we can."

"Okay thank you. I'll explain the rest at the meeting." Diavel said as he opened his menu to look at the time. "Speaking of which we need to try and get some more people to come to this meeting. Ill message you both what time exactly it will be but should be about 3." As he stood up he quickly swiped his hand through his menu sending both Shadow and Wraith and friend request which they accepted. Paladine proceeded to do the same and soon Diavel and Paladine were out the door.

'Well that was a pleasant surprise." Shadow stated getting up from the table. "We should probably get back out to level don't you recon?"

"Yeah. We want to be as prepared for this raid as possible." Wraith responded as he too stood up. The duo walked out of the inn and headed back out of town and into the plains.

The time seemed to fly for Shadow and Wraith and apart from one or two breaks they proceeded to level for the next 5 hours. By the time it had reached about half 2 they had a message come through from Diavel telling them that the meeting would be starting soon. They finished off the current wave of Little Nepenthes and then proceeded to make their way back into town. Once they got through the town gate they started making their way towards the coliseum where the meeting was due to take place. They arrived through a small door to the west side coliseum. Straight ahead of them was the stage and too their right were a few rows of stone steps. The stadium currently only had a few players in it and none of them particularly stood out to the pair. They headed up the steps to the back row of the coliseum and sat down roughly in the middle. They waited for a few minutes as a couple of players arrived until Diavel took the stage.

"Hello everyone. My name is Diavel and in this game is play the role of Knight." At this Diavel got a few jabs from the other players stating that there was no role system in this game. He ignored them and carried on. "As you've probably all heard now my party has managed to find the boss room for this floor. We have a few details on this boss fight from these books that were created by the Beta Testers."

"What about those selfish bastards." A player with orange spiked hair stood up and lept towards the stage. He landed on it and then turned around to the stadium. "Those good-for-nothing players just up and left as soon as we found out we were stuck in this game. They hogged all of the best grinding spots so that us normal players couldn't level up as easy. They didn't help us with anything."

"If I may." Near the stage a black haired player with dark skin stood up. He seemed to be about the same age as Wraith and Shadow' "The names Tariq. You do all realise that the Beta Testers created the books that not only give us details on the bosses but also show all of the best spots for leveling and the best shops for weapons along with a list of quests that drop certain items or weapons. They gave us all the info they had. They tried their best to help out everyone they could. Despite that some people didn't make it."

"But they could of teamed up with us new players and helped us."

"They did." The spiked hair player was interrupted by a cloaked player with a familiar Female voice.

"Two Beta Testers teamed up with us to teach us the game and then they stayed with us up until last week." A familiar male voice came from the other cloaked player who was sat next to the first.

"The only reason they left us was because we got separated in a dungeon and we couldn't find each other after." The female player said this as Shadow and Wraith realised who was talking. It was Azure and Crimson. And the beta testers they were talking about was them.

"Alright everyone quiet." Diavel who was still stood on stage spoke up. "Kibaou get off the stage and sit back down to where you were." The orange haired player went to open his mouth to say something before giving up and returning to his seat. The player named Tariq also sat down before Diavel spoke again. "So as I was saying. This book has strategies from the Beta on the first 10 floors. According to this the first boss is called Illfang the Kobold Lord. He uses a ax and buckler for his first 3 health bars but once his health hits the red he will pull out a curved sword called a Talwar. At this point we should prepare our tanks to parry his quick attacks. If they manage to parry him our DPS players should then try and attack with quick attacks. We should also look out for the Kobold Sentinels. A few players should try to deal with these waves of minions. Depending on the players levels 2-4 people should be recommended to fight each Sentinels." Diavel closed the book and looked at the crowd. "Right. You all need to get into groups of 4. Once grouped up head out into the field for a bit to get used to fighting together. We'll meet back here at noon tomorrow and head out towards the boss then." With that everyone started to stand up and head into groups. Shadow and Wraith headed downwards towards the two cloaked players that they believed to be Azure and Crimson.

"You two alright then?" Shadow asked once they were close enough. The cloaked figures turned around revealing themselves to Shadow and Wraith. The first was a boy of about Shadow's age with blue hair. The second was a girl of about the same age with bright red hair. Although their hair colour was different their faces were unmistakably those of Azure and Crimson. When they saw Shadow and Wraith they both smiled with relief.

"Thank lord you two are still alive." Crimson said first. "Not that we thought you would be killed so easily but."

"I think she's trying to say it's good to see you both." Azure chimed in.

"It's good to see you guys as well but what happened to your hair?" Wraith asked as the group started to move down the stairs again.

"Well when we got separated we decided to head back. In town we heard that people back in the Town of Beginnings had found a way to alter our characters appearance. We decided to try it out and changed our hair colour to what our original avatars had." Crimson answered this as she held a clump of her red strands in one hand.

"There was also a way to change your eye colour but that was about it." Azure responded. The group had now already exited the coliseum and we're walking through Tolbana.

"Right. Shall we get out there to leveling before tomorrow then." Shadow said as they reached the town centre.

"Yeah. We may as well do what we can to make sure we can take on the boss tomorrow."

The group walked towards the towns gate and headed out into the plains. Tomorrow would be the 25th day of this death game. And on the 25th day would be the day that the first floor was cleared…..


	4. Illfang The Kobold Lord

Chapter 4-Illfang the Kobold Lord

The next day the raid party all met up in the coliseum at midday. They already knew what the plan was so as soon as everyone was there they all headed out towards the tower. Oh the walk there Shadow looked around at his allies. There was a varied selection of players here and although the group was a lot larger now it reminded him of the beta. A group of players all trying to have fun and get onto the next floor. However fun was not the reason for this party. The means of this party was to clear the next floor with as little casualties as possible. That was the one goal of this party.

As they continued to walk they ended up going through a forest. Shadow remembered getting ambushed by enemies during the beta in forests so he made sure to stay alert. He could see next to him that Wraith was on guard as well. The world they lived in now was ruled by only one thing. The Cardinal System.

Although Kayaba had never released much about this system on the lead up to the game it became very apparent in the beta as to what it was. The Cardinal was one of the most advanced AI in existence. Being able to alter the world of Aincrad to its suiting. This could be anything from creating challenging quests to match the highest players skill or changing enemies all the way up to creating the floors. Although the first floor was mostly as Shadow remembered, a few things had been changed by the Cardinal to make sure that Beta Testers didn't fly through. The biggest so far was that the 1st floor dungeon had moved so no one knew where it was. Along with that the Mobs now seemed slightly harder than they had back in the Beta. One thing that Shadow did know for a fact about the Cardinal was that it liked to make obstacles for large parties. And the raid team they were in right now was a perfect example of that.

Just as Shadow was thinking this he heard a rustling in the bushes around them. A few players in the group began to grip their weapons, ready for an attack. Almost as soon as the players noticed something was a up a pack of Dire Wolves jumped out of the bushes and onto the players. One of these wolves went to jump directly at Shadow's head but instead clamped down onto his black blade. The black blade quickly changed to blue as Shadow preformed the sword skill Horizontal, slicing through the wolf and send it away.

"Tanks, form a barrier, Buffers, Increase our attack and defense, DPS, slice them up." Diavel shouted from the front of the group. With that the tanks all raised their shields as the buffers increased the attack of the DPS players. As soon as they had the attack buff Shadow and Wraith leapt forward through the tanks to get behind the wolves. Once through both their blades glowed as they both performed Sword Skills. With the help of the tanks they had jumped past they managed to beat the two wolves near them before turning around to see that most of the group had managed to finish off the theirs as well. That was except for a group of injured players who only had one player left able to fight. Seeing that the player was losing this fight, and as he was the closest to them, Shadow jumped towards the wolf performing Rage Spike halfway along his jump to boost him into and through the wolf. The wolf turned a light blue as it shattered into pieces. Shadow returned his blade to his sheath as he looked at the group of players. The player who had still been fighting was a short girl with short brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a basic blue tunic with a steel breastplate over it. In her hands she had a thin silver blade, a rapier. The player turned to look up at Shadow.

"Th-Thank you for saving us." She said sheathing her rapier.

"No problem. We're all here to try beat the game and live." Shadow replied looking down at the player who was speaking to him. "We need as many people for this fight as possible."

The group began to start walking again as players handed healing potions around to make sure everyone was set for any more fights. Shadow, who was now just behind Wraith, got some potions out of his inventory and handed them back to the party behind him. "So." The Brown haired Rapier user started to talk to Shadow. "Thanks again for back there Mr." She said looking up at Shadow.

"Like I said it's no problem. And please, call me Shadow." He said slowing down so he was next to the player talking to him. "And you are?"

"Ash."

"Well nice to meet you Ash. Are those your friends you're partied with?"

"Not really. I was just sat closest to them in the boss meeting so I ended up with them."

"Ah okay."

"Shadow." In front of them Wraith turned his head to talk to his friend. "Stop flirting back there and get up here. We need to be in our parties if we get ambushed again."

"Alright. Well nice chat Ash but I got head up. See you at the boss fight."

"Uh yeah." Ash blushed as she quietly replied but Shadow was already ahead with Wraith…

About an hour later the group arrived at the boss tower and fought their way through the first few floors before reaching the boss room. Once there the group stopped and Diavel stood turned around in front of the door to face the group.

"Listen up, everyone." He exclaimed, stabbing his sword into the stone ground. "I have only one thing to say. Let's Win!" He lifted his right hand from his swords pommel and lifted it up, clenching his fist as he did so. The group all nodded looking forward at Diavel. "Let's Go!"

Diavel reached his right hand out to the middle of the largest wooden doors and pushed them open. The room inside was a large stone room with pillars on either side. Going down the middle of the room was a black glossy stone floor with patterns throughout in red. At the end of the room was a stone stage with two curved stone staircases leading up. Atop this stage was a large stone throne and sat on the throne was a large red creature with long red ears. Around his head was a black executioner style hood that seemed spiked at the top from the boss's spiked head. He had black knee pads on with a torn purple cloth around his waist but was wearing no clothing on his torso, showing a blue diamond shaped tattoo with a smaller blue diamond inside of it. On the left side of the room but the bosses right was a large single headed metal axe with a worn wooden handle. On his left arm was a circular metal shield or a 'buckler' just above his black gauntlets that were on either arm. Behind him, on his right side, you could just about make out a handle with a cloth grip wrapped around it. From beneath the hood a pair of glowing red eyes opened, staring straight at the raid party. Diavel led the way into the room, sword and shield drawn, as the group slowly walked into the boss room. From the floor around them, the room suddenly lit up in a rainbow of colours. Before the group could react the red behemoth of a monster leapt forward, ax and buckler in hand before landing with a large crash, as dust from the floor flew out from under him. As he arched back and roared you could see a long red tail behind him as a red spinning diamond appeared above his head with the name Illfang the Kobold Lord in black and four large green health bars appear on his left side, floating above him. Suddenly multiple smaller creatures in armour with a polearm that seemed to be just a rock on a stick spawned in with a blue glow. These then all had a red cursor above their head with the name Ruin Kobold Sentinel underneath it and a small green health bars next to that. The Kobolds all charged forward towards the party. At this Diavel raised his sword above his head and then pointed it forward. "Commence Attack!" He bellowed as the party all charged forward past him. At the front of the attack stood Shadow, Wraith and Paladine followed closely by Azure, Crimson, Tariq and Kibaou. Shadow was the first to reach a Kobold as his blade glowed a bright yellow to hit the Sentinels mace.

As the battle dragged on Diavel acted as a leader, directing each squad what to do in order to maximise their strategy. "Squad A! Squad C! Switch!" four players parried the bosses axe before jumping back to let another four players, that included Kibaou, jump forward and strike. "Here it comes! Squad B, block!" Paladine's squad blocked as Tariq and his party jumped forward, striking the boss with their Sword Skills. "Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch…. NOW! Switch, draw and prepare to attack from the side." Diavel turned his head to face Shadow's, Ash's and another party. "Squads D, E and F, keep the Sentinels off of us!"

"Roger that!" Shadow shouted back as he charged a Sentinel that was leaping at him. He sliced his black blade up, parrying the attack, leaving the Sentinel open. "Switch!" At this Wraith dashed forward as his Dagger glowed green and then proceeded to slice through the Sentinel. Next to them Azure and Crimson had just taken out their latest Sentinel. Another Sentinel jumped behind Shadow but he turned around and parried the attack sending the Sentinel flying over towards Ash and her party who had just taken out a Sentinel themselves. "Switch!"

Before Wraith could start to turn around to the Sentinel Shadow had just parried a brilliant pink light came from behind it as Ash performed a Sword Skill with her Rapier. Although the skill damaged the Sentinel the Raiper didn't quite do enough damage to finish it in one switch. The Sentinel quickly turned around to attack Ash but before it could swing it's mace down it exploded into blue shards as Shadow's black blade sliced through it.

"That's two you owe me now Princess." He said with a smile on his face as he landed next to girl from his skill.

"Ye...Yeah. Thank you again." She replied, her cheeks flushed.

"No problem princess." He winked at her with a goofy grin on his face causing her to blush again as he rushed back off towards his group.

"Shadow. You need to leave that poor girl alone." Crimson said parrying a Sentinel over to Azure as he sliced it in two with his glowing blue blade.

"Hey I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just trying to keep everyone here alive." Shadow replied finishing off a Sentinel that Wraith had just parried. "Besides, She doesn't seem to mind me."

"Shadow!"

Their conversation was cut short by Wraith as Shadow turned around to see another Sentinel trying to jump him.

"Not today you don't!" Shadow exclaimed dodging the attack and then slicing his sword straight through the gap to the back of the neck between the helmet and the armour, one shotting the Sentinel.

"It's not gonna work Crim." Azure said, parrying another Sentinel. "By the seems of it he's still the same as Wraith said he was in the Beta."

"What do you mean same as the beta?" Shadow asked with a somewhat sarcastic tone. "What have you been telling them Wraith."

"Hey all just said was you tend to charge into battle without thinking."

"I don't charge in without thinking. I think oh look a bad guy time to kill it."

"Why am I not surprised."

The raid party kept on fighting for quite a while until they managed to lower the bosses health into the red. As his health hit into the red the boss stumbled back and dropped his ax and buckler. Diavel saw this as a chance and shouted such to the rest of the players. The teams that had been fighting the boss all charged forward with Diavel leading the way. As they approached the boss he went to grab a weapon on his lower back. However instead of pulling out a Talwar he produced a long black blade. It was pointed inwards at the end making the end of the blade look like a snakes forked tongue. Shadow caught this from the corner of his eye and quickly shouted.

"Diavel! That's not a Talwar, it's an Odachi!" He said parrying a Kobold Sentinel and sending it over to Wraith as he turned around to the boss. "It's got longer reach! You need to get back." The main raid party kept charging as Illfang leapt up into the air and started jumping from pillars.

"EVERYONE BLOCK!" Wraith shouted, noticing what was happening. Shadow rushed forward towards the group to try and get them out of the way but it was too late. The players that had been fighting the boss all got sent flying as the Kobold Lord smashed down into the ground in front of them. He then charged forward and sliced through Diavel and another player before his blade met Paladine's shield. Paladine pushed his shield back up parrying the Kobold Lord. Kibaou and Tariq then both simultaneously attacked from both sides knocking him back further. Shadow rushed over to Diavel grabbing a glass diamond shaped bottle with a red liquid in it out of his back pocket but before he could reach him he saw the health bar over Diavel deplete down through the red until there was no health left. A faint 'beep' could be heard before he shattered into a thousand blue shards. The whole room fell silent as they looked towards where Diavel had just disappeared from. The silence was quickly cut short as the Kobold Lord roared as he recovered from Paladine parrying his attack. The players could barely move, almost all in shock from seeing someone die in front of them. Shadow looked over to the main group and then over to his friends. He caught Wraith's eye from across the room and with one glance the two players both raised their weapons once again. They both started to rush towards the boss meeting each other about half way.

"Kibaou! Tariq! Paladine! You need to create an opening for us!" Shadow shouted as he charged.

"Uh okay." Kibaou replied as he raised his blade, quickly followed suit by the rest of the main group.

"Azure! Crimson! Keep those sentinels off us!" Wraith shouted back at the others. The Kobold Lord charged forwards but was once again met with Paladine's shield who parried the attack. Shadow reached the boss just before Wraith did and sliced straight through him as his blade glowed blue. This was instantly followed up by Wraith who sliced at the boss with his dagger which also turned blue. The boss went to attack again but was countered by Wraith with a sword skill aimed at its weapon. As the boss stumbled back Wraith shouted out to Shadow. "SWITCH!"

In an instant Shadow dashed forwards towards the boss as his blade glowed blue. He sliced into the Kobold's chest stunning him in the Post Skill Delay. Wraith took this opportunity to attack the boss again before both Shadow and the boss came out of the PSD. Shadow's blade glowed Blue again and as the Boss tried to attack him as the stun effect lifted Shadow sliced towards the Kobold's Odachi. "SWITCH!"

It was now Wraith's turn to dash forward again this time with his dagger glowing red. He performed a short Sword Skill letting Shadow attack the boss again. Wraith braced himself for another skill and as the Boss striked his blade Wraith once again parried it with his Sword Skill. "SWITCH!"

For the final time Wraith shouted to Shadow who jumped off of the now stunned Wraith and activated the One Handed Sword Skill 'Vertical Arc'. His blade glowed Bright Blue as he sliced straight through the Kobold Lord sending him flying in half through the air as the last of his health deteriorated into nothing. Illfang roared as he shattered into blue shards. Victory music started to play as the words 'Congratulations' appeared in white above the players. A window popped up for everyone telling them about the results of the last battle. Shadow looked at his window to see his EXP and Items when he noticed he had received a new piece of equipment. It was his bonus for dealing the final blow to the boss. The Last Attack Bonus. Shadow looked around to see that everyone else was looking in the direction of him and Wraith.

"Congratulations you two." The Swordsman named Tariq said as he walked over to them. "It was a tough fight but thanks to you two we managed to win."

"Yeah thank you." It was now Paladine that came up to them. "If it wasn't for you two pulling us all back together then I know we'd of lost a lot more lives. Mine included." Many of the other players started giving their praises to Shadow and Wraith as Azure and Crimson walked over to them.

"Why are you all thanking them!" A shout came from near where the bosses throne had been. "They just let Diavel die. They knew the bosses attack patterns but didn't tell us. It's because of them that he's dead."

"They must of been in the Beta Test!" Another player shouted. "That's why they knew the bosses attacks!"

Azure, Crimson and Paladine all looked worryingly at Shadow and Wraith. By the way this was going the Beta Testers were gonna end up even more hated than they already were.

"Um guys." Paladine said quietly to Shadow and Wraith as Tariq walked away from them and toward Kibaou. "If you two want I can tell them that Diavel was a Beta Tester too and knew just as much as you two."

"No it's okay." Shadow said standing up, closing his 'Victory' window. "That would just ruin his image. I can deal with this." He turned around to Wraith. "After I've done this take these 3 with you too the main town on the next floor. I'll meet you all there." Shadow walked forwards towards where Tariq and Kibaou were arguing.

"So what if they're Beta Testers. They gave us all the information we could of needed. How would they of known that the boss would have a different attack pattern than it had in the Beta."

"Maybe they lied to us about it. Maybe this was always the Boss's attack pattern and they made up everything about it using a Talwar."

"That's where you're wrong Kibaou." Shadow interrupted the two as he walked towards them. "The information given in The Rat's Guidebook was accurate to the Beta. The only reason I was able to recognize his attacks was because in the Beta I fought much higher enemies with Katana skills just like Illfang had then. I got to a higher floor than anyone else. I have more knowledge than anyone else who was in the Beta. All of the other testers where nothing compared to you guys. They barely managed to make it to the 3rd Floor."

"That makes you worse than any Beta Tester! You're a cheater!"

"A Beta Tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!"

"A Beater huh. I like the sound of that." Shadow said as he started opening his menus. "Giving me a name like that is gonna so much more fun when I kick you all back into the dirt."

"Hey that's not we ment!"

"Your not better than us!"

"Oh yeah?" Shadow asked as he pressed the Equip button on the Last Attack Bonus. A black cloak materialised around him as he stood facing away from the rest of the players. "My sweet ass cloak begs to differ." He walked forwards through the giant doors and into the smoke that followed.

"He didn't mean any of that right?" Crimson asked looking worryingly at Wraith.

"No. After all half of what he said were lies. I think he was just trying to take the heat off of the rest of the Beta Testers so that everyone else would lay off on them. Anyway. I've got to take you guys with me to Urbus. I'm sure Shadow will explain when we get there."

On the opposite side of the room from Wraith and the others the brown haired fencer had managed to sneak away from her group and to the door. She ran through the smoke to reveal a grey spiral staircase that lead upwards. She rushed up the stairs to try and find the swordsman who had already saved her twice. She didn't believe that he meant anything that he just said. He'd seemed so nice on their way to the boss room. There was no way that this was what he was really like. Was there? As she neared the top of the stairs she could see a orange glow coming from outside. She reached the top of the stairs to be greeted by a beautiful sunset. The top of the stairs was located at the top of a mountain that looked over a vast savana. About one kilometer away from the stairs was a circular town, about 300 meters in diameter which could be seen perfectly from this mountain. Ash gasped looking at the view. "Wow!"

"I know. It's beautiful isn't it." A voice came from behind her causing her to jump. She turned around to see the cloaked swordsman. "I'm kinda surprised though that you were the first one to arrive here princess."

"I-I followed you up here after what you just said. I couldn't believe that you meant any of that. I had to find out if it was really true."

"Of course it's not true. I made all of that up to try and take the heat from the Beta Testers."

"Thank goodness." Ash sighed looking at Shadow. "So everything you said back there was a lie?"

"Well not everything. I mean I did get further than anyone else in the beta but so did my entire group. We played this game basically non stop while it was in Beta. But anything I said about the other players or being better than anyone else was all fake. Anyway princess." He said causing Ash to blush again. "You already knew I was lying didn't you. Why'd you really follow me up here."

"U-um I wanted to ask you if I could join your party. I don't really know anyone in this world and I saw how strong you were so I was wondering if I could join you and your friends?"

"I'd happily have you join us but I may need to ask the other members. If you just give it a minute I'm sure that they'll be here."

"Shadow! Are you talking to yourself again?" The voice came almost on cue as Wraith, followed by Azure, Crimson and Paladine arrived at the top of the stairs. "Oh. It's the girl from before." Wraith said looking over towards the two.

"Shadow you really have to stop harassing that poor girl." Crimson said looking over at them as well.

"Oh no miss. Shadow here wasn't harassing me. I came up here to ask if I could join you guys."

"You wanna join us?" Azure asked as he stood next to Crimson. "Well I've got no problem with that and by the seems of it Shadow doesn't either. Any of you guys have any objections to her joining." Wraith, Paladine and Crimson all shaked their heads in response.

"Well then welcome to the party princess." Shadow said looking at the fencer. "I hope you'll enjoy fighting with us."

"I'm sure I will Shadow."

"Great. Then let's get going." Shadow said pointing down the mountain. "The main city of Urbus is just down there. Let's get there before it gets too dark."

"YEAH!" The group all answered in unison as they walked off down the mountain and towards the first town of this new floor.


	5. The Rat and the Silver Haired Girl

Chapter 5-The Rat and The Silver Haired Girl

A few days had passed since the fight against Illfang on the First Floor. In that time Shadow, Wraith and the others had already cleared most of the starting quests on the floor and were currently staying in a cheap Tavern in Urbus. Shadow opened his eyes and was greeted by a bright light coming from the small window on his right. The tattered brown curtains tried to keep the light from coming through but didn't have much effect. The room was almost identical to the one Shadow had stayed in days before on the floor below but looked a lot more rundown. The brown wallpaper was peeling off and the wooden bed was chipped with the sheets being a bit more grey than white. The inn didn't have many rooms as it was and with them now being in a party of 6 as opposed to just him and Wraith staying in the last inn they stayed in, Shadow had found himself in one of the worst rooms in the inn. Crimson and Ash had the first picks of rooms, followed by Paladine, Wraith, Azure and finally Shadow as 'punishment' for his 'display' after the boss fight. Or at least that's the reasoning Crimson had and at the time Shadow didn't have the energy to argue with her. Out of the few rooms that were left this was the best there was. After their first night there Ash had offered Shadow to switch rooms as she was the newest member but Crimson quickly shot that and any other idea down instantly. Shadow got out of bed and opened his inventory window quickly equipping all of his equipment apart from his Anneal Blade+6 before exiting his room into the hallway. The only good thing about his room was that it was the closest to the staircase which meant less effort for him in his tired morning state as well as less effort when they all headed up stairs from the bar. Shadow walked down the stairs to see Wraith and Paladine both sat down at a long rectangular table on the left hand side of the room. Azure, Crimson and Ash were all nowhere to be seen.

"Morning Guys." Shadow said walking over to the pair. "How'd you guys sleep?"

"Better than you by the looks of it man. You look completely shattered." Wraith said looking at the slight bags under Shadow's eyes.

"Yeah that bed is completely shit. It's getting worse and worse by the night. I swear the slats are stabbing into my back during the night." Shadow said looking over to Paladine. "What about you Dine?" He asked going to sit next to Wraith and opposite Paladine.

"Yeah I slept well. Just heard footsteps every now and then coming outside my room."

"Your next to Crim and opposite Azure aren't you."

"Yeah. And before you even say anything I'm pretty sure we're thinking the same thing."

"I mean they have always seemed very close and me and Wraith here have had our suspicions that they may of been dating back in the real world."

"Yeah that wouldn't surprise me. Speaking of which, if you don't mind me asking, were either of you two with or close to anyone in the real world?"

"Nope."

"Not really."

"What about the Beta?" Paladine asked Shadow and Wraith.

"Well I didn't have anyone. But this one had a thing for a certain rat." Shadow said patting Wraith on the back as Wraith blushed.

"There wasn't anything going on between us Shadow and you know that." Wraith replied defensively.

"If that's true then why'd you just blush?" Paladine asked leaning over the table towards Wraith.

"So. Who wants to go and get the others?" Asked Wraith trying to change the subject.

"I'll go wake them up. Try not to press on him too hard Dine." Shadow said as he got back up and headed back up the stairs. Crimson, Azure and Ash were all on the far end of the corridor. Crimson was right at the end opposite Azure and Ash was next to him and opposite Paladine. Shadow walked down the corridor towards Crimsons door first. He knocked on it but there was no answer. He pushed open the door to reveal a room similar to his own but a bit bigger and without having any holes or scratches or torn wallpaper. The room itself however was completely empty which he should of gathered since the door was unlocked. He closed the door and turned around and knocked on Azure's door. Once again there was no answer and when he pushed the door open the room was once again empty. He then moved down by one door to knock on the door to Ash's room. He knocked but once again there was no answer. He tried the door and once again it was unlocked. He pushed it open revealing a room almost identical to Crimson's but about the same size as his instead. Unlike Crimson and Azure's rooms however Shadow soon realised that this room wasn't empty. Stood in the middle of the room was the brown haired fencer he had met only a few days ago. Her hair shone in the sun as the light from outside the window bounced off it and onto her fair skin. Wait.. Skin.. But her equipment doesn't show any… Shadow suddenly saw the full sight in front of him. Ash was stood with her right arm outstretched opening the inventory window with nothing but her pale pink undergarments equipped. Before Shadow could even react to this sight by covering his face or turning around there was a flash of blue as Ash's normal equipment appeared, covering her skin. Ash rubbed at her tired eyes as she turned towards her door. She moved her hands away from her eyes to see Shadow stood there, frozen in place, with an expression of surprise on his pure scarlet face. Ash blushed at the sight of Shadow as she spoke.

"M-Morning Shadow." She said smiling nervously.

"M-Morning Ash." Shadow replied stuttering slightly. "I came up here to get you, Azure and Crimson downstairs."

"Oh. Okay. Let's go then." She responded walking towards Shadow. As she passed Ash leant up and whispered into Shadow's ear. "I hope you enjoyed what you saw." Shadow's face turned even reder as he turned towards Ash and was met by a innocent smile. "Come on then."

"Y-Yeah." He responded closing the door and following Ash down the corridor.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Shadow noticed that the amount of people at the table had more than doubled. On the side closest to the wall sat Paladine, Azure and Crimson with Wraith and figure wearing a brown hooded cloak sat on the opposite side. Shadow noticed that Wraith was looking downwards, trying to keep his eyes from the player sat next to him. "Took your time up there didn't you guys?" Azure asked with a smirk on his face.

"I went up there to bring you all down here." Shadow replied as they approached the table. "Where were you two anyway?"

"We left early this morning to go get our gear upgraded." Crimson responded.

"Okay. And who's your new friend here?" Shadow asked as he and Ash sat down next to Wraith.

"I'm almos ah'fended Shadow." The cloaked player spoke turning towards him. Underneath the cloak was a player with brown eyes and curly auburn hair. The player didn't seem familiar to Shadow until he looked closer. On either side of the players face were 3 maroon markings that looked like whiskers. It clicked as soon as the player talked again. "Ya still don' recognise me huh?"

"Argo?" Shadow questioned looking at the player.

"Finally." Argo responded pulling down her hood. "Took ya long 'nuff Shadow. Wraith e're recognised me instan'ly."

"I'm sure he did." Shadow said looking at Wraith who was sat in between the two of them with a flushed face. "So." Shadow said looking at Argo again. "I gather your still Info Broking now that the games launched."

"Course I am. Anyway. Ya and Wraith e're gonna introduce me to ya gang."

"Yeah." Shadow started by pointing over the table at Azure and Crimson. "By the seems of it you've met Azure and Crimson." He now turned to Paladine. "This is Paladine our main tank." He continued turning until he was facing Ash. "And this here is Ash our fencer." He turned back to face the rest of the table. "Everyone this is Argo The Rat. Creator of The Rats guidebook."

"Pleasure ta meet ya all." She stood up and faced the others.

"Wait your the creator of the Guidebooks." Crimson looked over to Argo with a look of confusion.

"That's right. Not quite what'cha imagined am I." Argo responded with a grin.

"Not exactly. No."

"Anyway." Shadow cleared his throat before speaking again. "Why are you here Argo?"

"I want'd ta see if ma two pals were up for a quest. But I can see that ya already have a full party."

"I-Ill help you with a quest." Wraith said sitting up trying not to look nervous.

"Aw thanks Wraith. I knew ya'd help me." She responded giving him a large grin that caused his cheeks to flush again.

"What quest are you even wanting to do Argo?" Shadow asked the Info Broker.

"I'm glad ya asked Shadow. I wanna try ta do a item collection quest that's on this floor see. But is too hard for me ta do on me own ya know."

"What's the quest reward?" Shadow asked sounding intrigued at the Rats information.

"Ta NPC ne'er said what ta reward was so I don't know what it is." Argo replied leaning against the chair she had been sat in earlier.

"We'll go." Said Crimson from across the table standing up and looking at Azure sat next to her.

"Yeah we can join." Azure replied as he too standing up after taking the hint that Crimson had just given him.

"Akay. Well that's four of us now." Argo said as Wraith stood up aswell. "I don' wanna split ya party up anymore Shadow seein how I'm already takin' three of ya members."

"Okay I guess Me, Paladine and Ash will stay around town today then." Shadow responded as the group of 4 started to walk towards the door.

"Hope ta see ya again soon guys." Argo said as the party of 4 turned to face the remaining 3, waving before they walked out of the door.

"Well then guys." Shadow said turning to look at Ash and Paladine. "What we gonna do today?"

"Well we've done most of the quest around here haven't we?" Paladine asked looking to Shadow.

"Yeah I guess we have. I mean we could always have a day of relaxation." Shadow said leaning back in his chair.

"T-To be honest that idea doesn't sound too bad right now." Ash chimed in.

Before anyone could say anymore the inn door crashed open as a short girl with long white hair ran in and slammed the door shut behind her. Her head darted from left to right looking around the room before looking towards Shadow, Paladine and Ash and then running towards them. "Is there anywhere I can hide?" She asked frantically looking at the trio.

"Um…"

"Y-you can hide upstairs. We'll follow you up." Ash replied standing up before Shadow could say anymore.

"Thanks." The girl replied as she ran up the stairs followed by Ash, Shadow and Paladine.

"Second to the end right hand side." Ash said as the player opened the door and darted in followed by the trio. Ash locked the door behind them as the girl hid behind the far side of the bed. A few seconds later they could hear foot steps on the stairs.

"We know your up here you bitch!" A voice came from the end of the corridor as the footsteps approached. They could hear all the doors being opened on the way before the footsteps ended up right outside the door. They heard the players on the other side of the door try to open it to no avail. "Whoever's in here open up!" The voice from outside came knocking on the door. Since the players had now knocked on the locked door any noise that the group of four inside made could be heard. Shadow quickly looked around the room until he noticed that the window was large enough for a player to fit through. He looked to Ash next to him and then to Paladine on the other side of the room before looking back to the window. Ash and Paladine both nodded as Shadow quietly moved over to the window side of the room, past the bed. He looked down at the silver haired girl hiding behind the bed and then motioned to the window, throwing it open in the process. Shadow moved out of the way as Paladine ran from his current position near the door towards the window, stepping up onto the window frame as he ran before springing from the window onto the low and fairly flat roof of the building next to the inn. He was quickly followed by Ash doing the same as Shadow motioned to the silver haired to do the same. The both moved near the door to get a running start and then ran and jumped out of the window. Shadow waiting until the girl was out of the window before he ran. As they landed on the closest building they saw through the window for the room next to them a brown haired Male player looking out at them, opening up the window as well as the rest of the group that had been outside the room moved into the next room.

"Follow me!" Shadow shouted to the others, wanting to get a head start on their pursuers. Shadow turned south as he started to run followed quickly by the others. The group Male players in the Inn were now jumping across onto the building they were currently on. Shadow reached the south edge of the building and jumped with Ash, Paladine and the Silver Haired player right behind him. Landing on the next buildings roof the group continued south towards the towns gate. They continued across the rooftops keeping their distance from their pursuers.

As Shadow quickly turned his head back to look at their pursuers just as he landed an idea came to his mind. As they were currently in a safe zone they could not hurt each other by attacking without initiating a duel. Instead PvP in Safe Zones outside of duels caused a knockback effect. Shadow leaped once more bracing himself for his landing. He landed into a roll, making sure his right arm was on his left side. He gripped at his Anneal Blade's handle, unsheathing it as he came out if his roll, turing to face the pursuers. Paladine and Ash both noticed what Shadow was doing and went to grab their weapons to, landing next to Shadow but both skidding back a few steps. The Silver haired player was the next to land as she quickly hid behind Paladine. Shadow, Paladine and Ash all stood facing the group of pursuers who noticed what was about to happen just too late. As the first pursuer, a blonde Male with blue eyes, jumped into the air to cross the gap he was met by the side of a black blade, slicing towards his chest. He was sent flying to his right, the opposite direction to where the Anneal Blade had hit him from, and fell to the ground beneath them. Before he could get up his two allies fell on him, sent by Ash and Paladine respectively. "Quickly. Run." Shadow said turning back to face the anonymous girl, cheating his sword in the process. The group of four continued leaping from rooftop to rooftop and by the time the three players on the floor recovered they were long gone…


	6. Titans Hand

**AUTHORS NOTE**

 _I'm sorry about how short this chapter is compared to my other chapters but I thought it ended quite well where it did. Chapter 7 is currently and development and will be a full chapter at around 2k words plus. I am to have that chapter out a lot quicker that the wait between most chapters due to this one being so short. I hope you enjoy._

Chapter Six-Titans Hand

Shadow opened up the door to the small cafe that they had just landed outside of after making their way off of the roof. The group of four players walked through the door into the empty shop. They walked to the back of the cafe and sat down at a 4 seated table before all breathing a heavy sigh of relief. The Silver haired player was the first to speak. "Thank you for helping me escape." She spoke looking at her three saviours.

"No problem." Paladine replied as a female NPC came over to the table they were all sat at to take orders.

"4 'Tremble Shortcakes' please." Shadow said to the NPC, pressing the blue circle button on his pop up menu asking if he would like to confirm purchase, before turning back to the blank faces of his fellow players all now looking at him for just ordering their food for them.

"What did you just order us?" The Silver Haired player was the first to ask before Paladine or Ash could say anything.

"I ordered us all a 'Tremble Shortcake'. It's this floors 'Special Dessert'."

"Special Dessert?" Ash asked as the NPC Waitress came back over holding a tray with 4 small plates on it. Each plate had a triangular piece of Shortcake topped with whipped cream stacked fairly high to the point that the cream was trembling. To finish the desert off a red fruit was placed elegantly on top of the whipped cream.

"Yeah 'Special Desserts". In the beta each Floor had a 'Special Dessert ' that gave you a specific effect after you ate it." Shadow said as the waitress placed the tray down and gave each player their Tremble Shortcake. "However they are quite pricey and the effects only last for 10 minutes but the price is worth it for the taste alone."

Ash and Paladine turned away from Shadow too look down at their desserts and were both about to dig in when the Silver Haired player spoke up. "Did you just say these desserts were in the Beta?" Ash and Paladine suddenly froze and looked back up to Shadow. Although his antics down in the 1st Floor Boss Chamber had turned the heat slightly off of the Beta Testers the majority of the Player Base was still quite hostile to Beta Testers and were even more so to the so called Beater sat with them.

"Yeah I was one of the Beta Testers." Shadow said as he sliced his fork through the 'Tremble Shortcake', lifting the piece up with the fork and then placing it into his mouth. "But I'm sure you already knew that right? After all I'm sure there have been plenty of players talking about me after the Boss Fight."

"I must admit I had a hunch seeing how your dressed and how you dealt with those players chasing me." The Silver haired player extended her hand over the table to Shadow. "The names Lynx. Nice to meet you Mr. Beater."

"Please call me Shadow." He reached across the table to shake her hand before sitting back down and digging back into his 'Tremble Shortcake'. Paladine and Ash both introduced themselves to Lynx before they all dug into the spongey, creamy dessert.

Despite looking a bit like a mix between a Raspberry and a Tomato, the red fruit on top tasted more like a Strawberry than anything else. While eating through the dessert Shadow told the group the reason behind the naming of the 'Tremble Shortcake'. According to Aincrad lore the whipped cream that topped off this desert was made from the milk of the 'Tremble Cow'. The female versions of the 'Tremble Ox' mob that spawned on this floor. Due to the size of the 'Tremble Cow' mob each one was almost a Named Monster in it's own right. When the group of four had finished off their deserts Shadow looked up to his HP bar to see a small icon next to it signifying a Luck Buff.

"Well now that we've eaten would you like to tell us why you were being chased and by who?" Shadow asked looking over to Lynx.

"They were part of a group of players calling themselves 'Titans Hand'. They've been threatening players and stealing their loot since we got to this floor. I encountered them trying to steal from a group of players who had just got up here and stopped them so they ended up chasing me."

"'Titans Hand' huh. If this were a normal game it sounds like they'd be a PK group." Shadow responded looking towards Ash and Paladine with a slightly worried look. "We should probably notify the Assault Team about this so that those players don't evolve to PKing."

"PKing." Ash piped up. "But in this game that would mean…"

"They'd be commuting murder." Paladine responded, his expression turing from worry to fear."

"Surely no one would ever kill another player here right, knowing that killing them in game would be killing them in real life." Ash's face started turning pale as she spoke.

"As much as I would hope no one would kill another player that could give some players more of an incentive." Shadow stood up from the table and turned towards the door.

"Why do you say that?" Lynx asked as she, Paladine and Ash all stood up.

"Because it will be much easier to get away with it."


	7. The Bulbous Bow

**AUTHORS NOTE**

 _So about that short wait and long chapter…_

 _I'm sorry about this guys I got stuck on where to go with this chapter after just introducing Titan's Hand but I think I've got a focus now as to where to go. I won't make any promises for the length, but I do plan to have Chapter 8 out ASAP which will be the 2nd Floor Boss Battle. I know I've kinda been racing through these two floors in terms of chapters but with Floor 3 comes the Elf War campaign which I have various plans for as I can loosely follow the overall campaign as it plays out in Progressive but with some new characters and some new challenges along the way._

 _Again I'm sorry that this chapter wasn't anywhere near as soon as I promised or the length but I hope you enjoy it all the same._

 **Sword Art Online is written by Reki Kawahara and animated by A1 Pictures. I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the series. Please support the official releases.**

Chapter 7-The Bullbous Bow

The door to the small Cafe opened as Shadow walked out of the building followed quickly by Ash, Lynx and Paladine.

"W-what do you mean they can get away with it?" Ash asked catching up with Shadow, followed quickly by the other two. "Surely we could set up a prison area for them couldn't we."

"I mean that they won't get caught after this is all over. No one on the outside knows what exactly is happening in here. If someone does PK what consequences will they face back in reality if there's no evidence." Shadow started to pick up speed as they headed into the centre of town. "Let's hurry and notify the Assault Team of this."

The group swiftly made their way to the 'Teleport Gate' in the centre of Urbus before all giving the same command. "Teleport Marome!" The group was engulfed in a blinding blue light and when they opened their eyes again they had arrived in a small town with only a few shops, an inn or two and by the seems of it no blacksmith. Shadow instantly darted to the west and the group of three quickly followed.

"Do we even know where the Assault Team is?" Lynx asked as they ran out of the town and across the sandy plains of the floor.

"They had a meeting yesterday in preparation of the Field Boss the Bullbous Bow. As it's a Field Boss they should be able to defeat it with two parties with ease so that's probably where they are." As they kept running they could see a crater like dip in the ground just up ahead with a narrow pathway to the north and a narrow wooden bridge crossing a deep chasm to the south. The crater was surrounded by trees and in the middle held a large bull about four meters tall. It had four large horns on it's head which were close to the ground and was covered with a thick, dark brown skin. Near the bull were a group of 12 people with six of them wearing royal blue attire and the other six wearing moss green. Although the boss seemed to have a very standard attack pattern of charge, turn, charge the group of players seemed to be in disarray which was caused by the two groups constantly arguing. From their current position atop the cliff Shadow could make out the spiky orange hair of Kibaou wearing green and a player who had long blue hair like Diavel wearing blue.

"I thought you said it should be easy to defeat it with two parties?" Lynx asked looking at Shadow.

"For most people it would be but apparently not for these lot." Shadow replied before jumping off the edge of the cliff and proceeding to slide down the terrain to the battle. Lynx went to follow but was stopped by Paladine.

"Unless you've put all your stats into Agility I wouldn't try it." He said as he looked back down the cliff. "The fact he made it is nothing short of a miracle."

"We'll just have to go the long way." Ash said as she pointed north to the craters entrance where the slope was at less of an incline and not as high.

As the group of three above headed north Shadow was already rushing through the trees towards the battle and specifically right to where Kibaou and the Diavel copycat were arguing. "Ya lot need ta tank the blows when we say, so that we can attack Lind!" Kibaou shouted as Shadow came out of the trees.

"Well you guys need to use your skills after we've blocked his attack instead of blindly hitting him and actually fall back when he recovers!" The blue haired player apparently called Lind shouted back.

"Here's an idea dipshits." Shadow said as he approached them still running towards the bull. "Shut the hell up and focus on blocking his attacks. I'll focus on attacking him."

"Why should we listen to a Beater like you?" Kibaou asked as Shadow rushed through them.

"Because if you don't your all gonna end up dead either from the boss or one another." Kibaou and Lind both grunted as they looked at each other and then nodded as they begrudgingly agreed to focus on the battle. Shadow briefly turned back to them and grinned before looking back at the bull.

It was currently turning and getting ready to charge. A shielder in light blue just ahead of Shadow blocked the bulls attack at the perfect moment and managed to stun the bull. Shadow used this opportunity to jump onto the players shield that was currently facing upwards and use it as a launching off point to jump up into the air above the bulls head. His blade then glowed a bright green as he performed the sword skill Sonic Leap slicing into the bulls head. Shadow's left fist then glowed red as he started to fall back to the ground before releasing the martial arts skill Senda to uppercut the bull. As the bull's stun effect wore off Shadow's PSD from Senda ended while he was still in mid air as his right foot glowed a bright orange as he used the martial arts skill Crescent Moon to kick the bull in the head then using the momentum to backflip off the bull. However on landing from this skill he temporarily lost his footing and tumbled onto the ground in front of the boss while still in his PSD. The bull went to charge forward but was met yet again by a shield this time from a tanker in green. Shadow stood back up as Kibaou, Lind and multiple other members from both sides all performed sword skills on the boss. Seeing it's health drop through the red from this barrage leaving only a handful of pixels Shadow's blade glowed a bright-pale blue as he sliced with an upward strike from the right using the sword skill Rage Spike, slicing through the bulls skull. As the skill ended the bull shone brightly before shattering into hundreds of blue shards. A 'Congratulations' screen then appeared for all players just like it had after beating Illfang a few days before. Shadow glanced briefly at his rewards seeing that he once again obtained the LA Bonus before closing his window to look around at the assault team. At the back of the group he could see Ash, Lynx and Paladine making their way over to him.

"Not to discredit you for helpin us." The spiky haired player with the dansai accent was the first to speak. "But I have to ask what yer doin at this battle."

"I'm glad you asked." Replied Paladine from behind them as they walked through the group towards Shadow and Kibaou. "We come with a pressing matter."

"And what is this pressing matter?" Lind was the one to ask now.

"A group of players calling themselves Titan's Hand have appeared since we opened up the floor." Shadow started explaining to Kibaou and Lind as he headed south across the bridge with the group following.

An hour or two after the battle against the Bullbous Bow the group all arrived in Taran, the final town before the labyrinth, and after activating the Teleport Gate, the ALS and DKB members parted ways from Shadow and his party to find themselves an Inn to set up their final base for this floor. As the two guilds started to head off Shadow let out a large sigh before turning to face Ash, Paladine and Lynx before speaking.

"There's a small inn on the western outskirts of the town that's fairly cheap. It ought to have just enough rooms for us 4 and the others when they arrive." They started heading West as Shadow opened his menu to send an 'Instant Message' to Wraith. 'We've arrived at Taran and are gonna stay the night. ALS and DKB seem ready to fight the boss tomorrow. They're gonna scout the labyrinth out this evening. Gates been activated.'

Within a few seconds Wraith had responded. 'Okay. We've almost finished our collection quest so we'll hand it in then warp over.'

Shadow quickly sent back an 'Okay. See you guys soon.' before closing his menu to look around the town. Taran was a town located atop what seemed to once be a mountain. It only had two entrances, one to the north and one to the south, which were both only accessible from natural bridges that crossed a large and very deep chasm that surrounded the entire town. To the South East was the labyrinth that would house the second floor boss. In the Beta the boss had actually been two bosses, one main and one sub. The sub boss had been Nato the Colonel Taurus who wielded a two handed hammer. The main boss had been Baran the General Taurus who used a golden battle hammer. Shadow made a mental note to inform everyone of this at the inn this evening and again at the boss meeting tomorrow morning just before they head out. The group started chatting amongst themselves on their way to the inn, having lost all worry about Titan's Hand for now…

...From atop the rooftops of Taran a figure, wearing a black ragged cloak, was looking down at the group of 4. After arriving to this world a month late he was surprised to see that it's inhabitants had only made it to the second floor, but that would make his assignment a lot easier. The figure took one last look at the group, taking particular interest in the boy with hair of a similar colour to his own, before returning back to the centre of town. He had a job to do first. He could focus on his own desires after he'd completed his assassination...


End file.
